Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index

Post by ISL » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 1:18 AM UTC

spookthesunset wrote: post #102

ISL wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that measure, the problem is the pricing of energy, not Bitcoin.

Doesn’t work that way. Bitcoin’s block reward system is designed so that the systems energy consumption costs are basically some percentage of the price of bitcoin. The higher the price, the more energy used. Drop the price of energy, and all rational miners will just buy more hardware. Why? If they don’t, their competitors will and the odds of them getting block rewards will go down.

Post by belltaco » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 1:22 AM UTC

zucker42 wrote: post #141

lucisferre wrote: post #4

This seems completely outrageous to me. I had seen similar numbers thrown around casually in the past but still found it hard to believe to be true, (despite being pretty bearish on Bitcoin myself). This seems to provide some pretty detailed evidence, analysis and validation directly addressing criticisms. It seems pretty thorough. Is there any more to discuss on the topic of Bitcoin being outrageously wasteful? Or i…

I've thought of a good way to put this perspective. The block reward is 12.5 BTC (and fees are neglible), which is $100000. There's a new block every ~15 minutes, which means 35000 blocks per year. ($100000 * 35000 / 73 TWH) = $0.048/KWH. So miners spend at most $0.05 per KWH on electricity. Assuming they spend 60% on electricity, they spend ~$0.03 per KWH, so not an outrageous price. The problem is BTC grew too big…

Post by jron » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 1:37 AM UTC

cjbprime wrote: post #74

steve19 wrote: post #2

It says a single transaction generates almost 300kg of CO2. Surely not. 95g of e-waste also seems incredible. And 600 kwh of energy per transaction? Really. Edit: based on a cost of electricity at $0.1/kwh, and assuming bitcoin operators break even and are rational, one transaction costs less than 3kw of energy: https://bitcoinfees.info If it cost 600kwh, we would assume a transaction would cost at least $60. Electri…

They're missing that the reward has fallen below the cost of non-renewable energy, such that the only profitable way to mine Bitcoin now is with renewables. The only way to profitably mine Bitcoin with any country's electric grid would be if someone else is paying the electric bill for you. > Electricity is probably a lot cheaper in China. Specifically, miners in China are famous for colocating with overprovisioned e…

Post by wmf » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 1:56 AM UTC

belltaco wrote: post #144

zucker42 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought of a good way to put this perspective. The block reward is 12.5 BTC (and fees are neglible), which is $100000. There's a new block every ~15 minutes, which means 35000 blocks per year. ($100000 * 35000 / 73 TWH) = $0.048/KWH. So miners spend at most $0.05 per KWH on electricity. Assuming they spend 60% on electricity, they spend ~$0.03 per KWH, so not an outrageous price. The problem is BTC grew too big…

>Also, this shows the need for governments to drastically increase taxes on carbon producing forms of electricity. Which will disproportionately hurt the poor.

Post by dnpp123 » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 2:17 AM UTC

jacobush wrote: post #109

kinghajj wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all that renewable energy could have been used to power something that actually adds value to society. If the miners are using excess production, then by definition, that power could not have been used for anything else; otherwise, some consumer in the grid would have used it!

Haha, so naive. In a perfect economy, yes. In the real, world, in China. Good luck.